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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good Characters, Same Story, October 28, 2004
I enjoyed reading about the characters that Howard created. They were well drawn and executed. I will probably pick up the next book in the series though may wait till I can get it used. The problem with the story is that it's nothing new. It seems that Howard has read a lot of other fantasy novels and has incorporated aspects of several of them (such at Tolkien, Robert Jordan, etc) but not really created anything of her own. She doesn't even explain most of the aspects in her book that are different from what we would expect on Earth because they've been explained by other authors.
Her book is a good, quick read if you're not looking for something new.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Entertaining debut novel, May 30, 2005
The Empress Ouriana has declared herself a goddess and is intent on conquering the entire world. Those who oppose her have battled for decades, yet have only defeat and dispair to show for their fighting. But a prophesy holds hope. Someone from the Empress's own bloodline is supposed to bring about her defeat. And Ouriana's sister has a baby daughter. Keeping that daughter alive becomes one of the most important goals in the world. But the wizard who sets out with the baby girl is lost in a battle with Ouriana's priests--and nothing more is heard from the girl.
As Ouriana continues her conquest, years pass. The Empress's conquests move closer and closer to the core areas of the alliance that opposes her. If the girl survived, she would be a young adult now, and they need her help. A small group including a half-elf prince, the most powerful wizard left to the side of light, and the wizard's daughter set off to follow up rumors that a princess in a distant kingdom might not be who she pretends--might actually be the child foretold in prophesy.
Author Madeline Howard delivers a well written and interesting debut novel. The world she creates--one filled with monsters frozen in the deeps, a newly lowered moon that creates earthquakes as it circles, and of powerful magic, will be familiar to fantasy readers while containing creative elements that are all her own.
The story concentrates on the journey of Sinderian, wizard's daughter, and the Prince Ruan, but occasionally switches to the point of view of one of Ouriana's sons or to that of the princess Winloki herself. I didn't find the characters quite as well developed or interesting as the world and magical system, however. Winloki is whiny and impulsive, and Sinderian is a bit whiny herself. While cardboard characters are a staple of fantasy (did we really get to know Aragorn, after all), it would have been nice if these central characters were more fully defined and sympathetic.
THE HIDDEN STARS isn't perfect, but it makes for engaging reading. I was reading it on the train and nearly missed my exit.
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8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Overwritten, uneven, high-fantasy debut, June 26, 2005
A small band of wizards and warriors must find the lost royal child prophesied to end the reign of an 'evil', self-proclaimed goddess-empress. Adapting that main plotline from *Willow*, Madeline Howard's first novel *The Hidden Stars* further combines several Tolkien-esque elements (wondrously dexterous elves/fey; vastly powerful wizards; not nine but twelve misshapen servants of the villain) to create an initially promising but unfortunately disappointing fantasy experience.
All or almost all fantasy plots have been explored time and again. What matters is the execution, and that's where this story falls short. It opens with the birth of the promised child and her disappearance (or death) in a cataclysmic battle between a wizard and the empress's servants. It then moves twenty years forward, to a time when the promised one has reportedly been sighted in a distant land. The good forces dispatch a small company to find her, racing, of course, against the evil forces.
A core problem is that, in the opening section, it's never shown how the empress became so powerful or why she's evil. We're simply to assume she is both. Echoes of this problem continue throughout (perhaps because of the strange viewpoint shifts--a main character is not well established). In the way of characterization, telling is often preferred to showing, perhaps because there's little of depth to show. In comparison with the characters from Martin's *A Game of Thrones* or any of Guy Gavriel Kay's novels, these are quite bland and stereotypical. (The wizards are calm and wise; the young heroine determined yet self-questioning; the half-elven prince amazingly agile and quick-witted.) The book's cover is perhaps ironically telling: no characters shown, just a generic sea-serpent attack. Inexplicably, too, there is no map of the fantasy world, which is almost necessary, given the importance of travel. However, one can be found at the author's website:
http://www.thehiddenstars.com/mh-map.htm
The above disappointments are only magnified by Howard's writing ability. She can truly write well, often with wonderful clarity and beauty. However, she is perhaps a bit too enchanted with the high-fantasy storyteller's voice and employs far too many adjectives, adverbs, and redundant descriptions. (She also changes tense in descriptions of places and is prone to telling instead of showing character behavior and feeling.) *Stars* is the first of a projected trilogy. My personal plan is to avoid the rest of this story and then see what she writes next as her talent, one hopes, continues to develop. Her potential is that strong.
Recommended as a library loan for fans of high-fantasy. Two-and-a-half disappointed stars.
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